Fast Women

Racing's raciest women and where to meet them. Take a number-no crowding.

The 2011 racing season was superb. In Champ Car, French ace Emmanuelle Bourdais beat defending champion Roberta Unser by just two points. Alana Jessica Foyt's early IRL points lead was overtaken by Marianne Andretti, who finally won Indy. At NASCAR's Waldorf-Astoria awards banquet, grizzled veteran Tony Stewart said, "If anyone was going to beat me, it had to be Sue." Nextel Cup champion Sue Gordon, also responsible for the banquet floral arrangements, gave Stewart a hug and—

Now, wait just a minute! Women in racing will never get that bad. Will it?

Don't be too sure. At the 2005 Indy 500, the entire crowd rose and cheered when Danica Patrick surged into the lead. Most were similarly deflated when Patrick had to cut her fuel mixture and—can we say this?—pull in her horns.

Yebbut, women winning professional championships!?

Easy, dude. Shirley Muldowney did it years ago. And pro racing is welcoming "racerettes" as never before. They'll have to succeed on merit, of course, without affirmative action. Racers have to take championships with brute force—wrestle them to the ground and drag them off, kicking and screaming.

But can a woman (besides the extraordinary Muldowney) body-slam victory and drag it away? Racing's most hardened male pros answer with a resounding maybe. NASCAR, the IRL, Champ Car, and the NHRA all have promising female racers percolating upward, and Ford, GM, and Dodge are dicing for position in the girl-racer wars.

To grow beyond its traditional Southern white fan base, NASCAR has developed its Drive for Diversity program. Tish Sheets, NASCAR director of diversity, explains: "We're committed to making our sport look like America." Sounds like political keynote speaker-ese, but Sheets means business. She wants Hispanic, African American, and women racers. With diverse starting fields, NASCAR means to take stock-car racing to the so-called next level. The potential is impres sive; a woman nearly winning Indy 2005 generated deafening publicity.

Richard Childress campaigns Chevy Monte Carlos in Nextel Cup and is putting racers Allison Duncan and Sarah Fisher through stock-car boot camp. "They're not quite ready for Busch [NASCAR's feeder series]," he says, "but in Grand National West, Sarah qualified third and ran second in the Texas race a couple of weeks ago. Allison's the first woman to win a Dodge Weekly Series late-model race and was second in points. They need seat time, but they have talent, and they're good listeners."

Kevin Kalkhoven, co-owner of the Champ Car World Series, Cosworth Engineering, and the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, has Brit Katherine Legge in training, and she already wins in Champ Car's feeder series, Toyota Atlantic. "You have to remember," says Kalkhoven, "in top-level road racing, no woman has ever succeeded. Driving a Champ car requires great physical strength, and it remains to be seen whether a woman racer has the 'killer' instinct—head as well as body." He chuckles. "But Katherine has been reprimanded for aggressive driving, which lays rest to that."

IRL racer Bryan Herta says, "I don't see any reason why females can't do well in a Champ car. It's a numbers game, really—there are many more young males than females racing karts, and to be a racer, you must start in karts by 10 or 12." Three years ago, Herta was asked to evaluate 13-year-old Canadian kart racer Alison MacLeod. He was impressed. Sixteen now, MacLeod wins in Ford Focus midgets and is in the Clorox/Ford Racing Female Driver Development Program.

And NASCAR's brilliant Ray Evernham, who relaunched Dodge in Nextel Cup, is guiding the impressive Erin Crocker. "Guys spend their whole lives getting to NASCAR," Evernham says. "I want Erin to be ready when her time comes. Females have to work extra hard, but look at women Olympians. They can kick us regular guys' butts."

Will a Champ Car field ever be one-third women? "I frankly doubt it," says Kalkhoven. "It depends on whether they win. If not, they'll be no big deal. But if they win, it's a very big deal."

Like the Marines, pro racing is looking for "a few good women." Check out the candidates. They are, to a woman, bright, talented, ambitious, and winsome.

In This Story

*AccuPayment estimates payments under various scenarios for budgeting and informational purposes only. AccuPayment does not state credit or lease terms that are available from a creditor or lessor, and AccuPayment is not an offer or promotion of a credit or lease transaction.

*AccuPayment estimates payments under various scenarios for budgeting and informational purposes only. AccuPayment does not state credit or lease terms that are available from a creditor or lessor, and AccuPayment is not an offer or promotion of a credit or lease transaction.